4/6/20 Snickers amps "Hi"; +6=517; pmps 425

I haven't posted much, or in a long time. Everything has been too crazy. My brother has ongoing issues with his lungs so we've been trying to help him stockpile food so he can avoid all contact for a while. (We haven't had any contact with him, we've just helped him pay to have groceries delivered.)

I don't know what to do for Snickers. He obviously feels bad. He wasn't doing well at 4.5 so we raised it to 5. I feel like that was a mistake. I went back to 4.5 today.

Does anyone give a lower dose at night? His glucose seems to drop faster at night. It's hard for me to stay awake and test him late at night, but I suspect he drops really low sometimes.

 

If you look at Smudge's spreadsheet it has a lot in common with Snicker's, and many cats go lower at night. I don't know why you lowered the dose, I don't see anything on the spreadsheet indicating 5U was too much. Smudge too loved to dive into the low numbers for one cycle at a dose increase and then bounce and level back off at higher numbers.

Double check with the mods, but I would have been thinking about an increase to 5.25U looking at your last two weeks of numbers, not decreasing. I know the higher amounts of insulin are scary, especially when you see a lot of posts with under 1U dosing, but it takes what it takes for your cat.

@Wendy&Neko

 

Whenever you have a dose question, it's best to change the subject line to include something like "dose ?" on it, plus change the prefix to include the "?". That'll catch more eyes. The job of the moderators is to help smooth running of the board, not necessarily providing dose suggestions. There are a number of experienced members here who look for people asking questions and can help.

No, that just disrupts the depot. With the dosing methods we use here, we find it's better to keep giving the same dose, unless they either go below a number indicating a reduction is needed, or they need more insulin, based on which dosing method you are following. And yes, many cats go lower at night, until they don't. And besides which, due to the Lantus depot, the shot given in the AM cycle has a lot of influence on the night time action too.

How is it going with the switch to all wet food? I do agree with Bridget that you should go back to 5.0 units. With him getting down to low 100's on that dose, I wouldn't increase again just yet. The reduction point with SLGS is 90, so he wasn't down quite that far, and was in nice normal numbers the night of the 2nd. And 90 is still quite a bit above 68 which is where we give higher carbs. Are you leaving food out for him at night? That's how he can help keep himself safe.

The link to your last post here, for continuity: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/2-27-20-snickers-pmps-325-2-592-4-560-6-588.226255/

 

Astexcat - I love Smudge's name! It was interesting looking over his spreadsheet. You gave him an injection when he was at 118? Snickers was at 121 tonight and I'm afraid to give him his injection yet.

Wendy - thanks for the answers and tips. You mentioned that he had good numbers on the night of the 2nd. But then on the 5th he was back to "Hi." That scares me. Is it normal?

He's resisting me on the wet food. He likes it and he nibbles at it, but he won't eat a full portion. He's a very finicky cat, which I'm not used to. Our other cat is 2 years old and wolfs down canned food like a cat in a cat food commercial.

 

Unfortunately yes. We call it bouncing. Harder on us than the cats, but almost all recently diagnosed cats, and even some long term diabetics do it. From the New to the Group Sticky Note:
Bouncing - Bouncing is simply a natural reaction to what the cat's system perceives as a BG value that is "too low". "Too low" is relative. If a cat is used to BGs in the 200's, 300's, or higher for a long time, then even a BG that drops to 150 can trigger a "bounce". Bouncing can also be triggered if the blood glucose drops too low and/or too fast.The pancreas, then the liver, release glucogon, glycogen and counter-regulatory hormones. The end result is a dumping of "sugar" into the bloodstream to save the cat from going hypoglycemic from a perceived low. The action is often referred to as "liver panic" or "panicky liver". *Usually*, a bounce will clear kitty's system within 3 days (6 cycles).